Tbaikt-contbol system



, M. R. JULIAN.

TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM. APPLICATloN r1LD1uNE23.|919.

1,322,023.. lzltoned Nov. 18, 1919.'

` 3 i Cmiow l WMM..

' UNITED STATES PATENT oEErcE.

MABSENA R. JULIAN, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALBAMA.

application nieuwe 23, 1919. serial-No. 306,157.

To all lwhom, it may concern.'

Be it known that I, MARSENA R. Junren, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Birmingham, in the county of J eierson and State of Alabama, have invented a'new and Improved. Train-Control System, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to electric circuits, switches and relays for controlling the speeds of. railway vehicles, and its ob]ect is according to the various track conditions and a normally. closed brake-controlling valve on the vehicle adapted to cause the brakes to be set after the valve has been open for a predetermined interval vof time, ofa current source and circuits therefrom'to `the valve to cause the valve to ,remain closed,

of a speed governor for opening andclosing K the circuits to said valve, a polarized'relay and armatures therefor adapted to select the circuits to said speed governor, depending upon the current in the ramp, a contact device adapted to engage the ramp to receive currents from said ramp, and a circuit be` tween the contact. device and the polarized relay. y

It further consistsin a series of visible signals to indicate the track conditions and energized by current over circuits which are opened andclosed by said relays.

It further consists in the arrangements ,0f well known electrical elements Vand circuits conventionally indicated in the accompany-b ing drawing and particularly pointed out in the claims. The single figure of the drawin shows the above mentioned arrangement.

n' the present construction, ram s 1 are mounted adjacent therailway trac Vin the usual manner, one for each block into which the track is divided, and any desired means ma be employed to energize these ramps, an it may be assumed as an illustration' that positive current will be sent to. any selected ramp when thetwo blocks of track in advance are vacant, .negative current when the first block infadvance is vacant but the secvon'd occupidand no current when the first block in advance is occupied. TheseV condi- Spccication of Letters Patent.

.when the sp TRAIN-CONTROL SYSTEM.

Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

tions will be here respectively termed Clean Caut1on. and anger. Means .are mounted on the vehicle to indicate these conditions and consist of the lamps 2, 3 and 4. A well known valve 5 which is connected to the equalizer'tank of the air brake system of the vehicle is normally kept closed by electro-magnetic means in the usual manner, and the circuit between this'valve and the battery 6 is opened only when the speed of the vehicle exceeds that which has been predetermined for clean cautiom or danger conditions respectively. This valve is so constructed that sufiicient air 'will escape from the equalizer tank to cause the application of the brakes within four or live seconds after the valve is opened.

Well known speed controlling mechanism l is indicated conventionally by the three sta.

tionary bars 7, 8 and 9 of unequal length andthe movable contact bar 10 which moves' upwardly vas .the -speed of the vehicle increases, disenga'ing from each of the bars e of the Vvehicle becomes greater than-that predetermined for the con-I dition represented by that bar.

Mountedin the case 12 on the vehicle is a vertically slidable rod'13 having aV contact shoe 14 at its lower end which is adapted to slide on the ramp 1 and receive current therefrom. The case supports a contact 15 and the' rod 13 a contact 16, which two contacts disengage when the shoe 14 passes over a ramp. The contact 15 connects directly to the battery 6 by means of a wire 17, the contact 16 connects to the holding relay 18 4by means of. the wire 19, and the contact shoe 14 connects to the polarized stickI relay 20 by means of thelwire 21. The'poles of this .relay are marked' -land to correspond to to the holding rela 18 is as follows: from the battery 6 over t e wire 17 tolthe contacts 15 and 16, wire 19, relay 18, wirel 22 to armature 23 and wires 24 and 25 to the battery; vIt is necessary to maintain this circuit in order to display clear or caution indications, and s'ofllong as the parts are as shown `the drawing, current from the battery will pass 'over wire 26, armature 27 of the` relay 18, wire 28:,armature 29 of the po- 2 1,32'2,oea

laiized relay 20, wire to the clear lamp 2, wire 32 to the armature 33 of the relay 34, and wires 35 and 3G to the battery.

At the same time, the armature 37 of the holding relay 18 will be held up so as to close the circuit to the valve 5 which is from the battery 6 over wire 2li, armature 37, wire '38, armature 3f) of the polarized relay 20, Awire 40 to the long clear contact bar 9, cross bar-10, wire 42, air valve 5 and wires 43 and 25 to the battery. lt will be understood that this last circuit Awill be broken and the valve opened-when the speed of the vehicle is great enough to disengage tlie bars 9 and 10, but that it will he closed when the speed falls to that which has been predetermined as the allowable maximum.

If the vehicle were proceeding under caution conditions, the armatures 29 and 39 wouldbe swung to the left and the current would pass from the armature- 29 to the lamp 3 over the wire 45 aud from the armature 39 to the middle bar 8 oftlie speed`de- .vice over the, wire 46. As this bar 8 is much shorter "than the hai' il, the cross har 10 will disengage therefrom o at 2 innchlower speed than from the bar.9. y A I It will be lnoticed that when the shoe 14' slides up on .the ramp, the 4circuit to the relay 18 will be opened by the rod 13 being lifted-hy the shoe 14'sufiiciently to disengage the. contacts 14 and 1r5. This results in the circuit to the light 2 and to the bar 9 bein broken by the armatures 27 and 37 falling, and if no cuxj'entis present in the ramp,

as is the case for dangercumditions, two new circuits are closed, one votwhich is from 4 the batteryover wire 26, armature 27, wire.

55, armature52,l wire 6() to danger lamp 4, wire 3:2, ainature 33 and wires 35 and 3G to the battery. The other circuit is from the battery over wire 26, arniatn're 37, wire (31 to4 the danger bar 7 of the speed controller, and if the vehicle is moving at not more than the predetermined speed for danger conditions,l then to the bar 10, wire 42,.valve 5, and wires'43 and 25 to the battery. But iftlie vehicle exceeds the predetermined speed for danger conditions while the shoe inovesgover the ramp, the bar l0l willbe out of contact with the -bar 7 and valve 5,'will,o n, and after a few seconds cause the appliatoii of the brakes until the-'predetermined speed for danger Aconditions reached. This lapplication of the brakes does` not, however, usually take place Afor reasons given later on.-

Under clear and caution conditions,

however, the application ,of the brakes as the v vehicle passeseach ramp cannot he )ermitis employed Ito canse th'evalvc 5 'being closed "before the pressure in the eqnalii/,ing tank has fallen sulliciently when either positive y n A way yehiclcs, thejcombination of a S110@ ted and the following described mec ianisin or negative currents are present in the ramp which are received by the shoe l-l.

The' relay 5lv is a stick i'ela "ol little streng l1, not sutlicient to close the `circuits between the armatures 38 and 52 and the wires 5!) and 5G, but sullicient to hold these circuits closed when they are once closed by means of the relay 3l. lt is the function ot this relay 5l to hold these circuits closed after the relay 34 (which is energized b v current received from the ramp l by way of -the shoe 14) for a few seconds, stops reccii'ing current, until the circuit to the relay 18 is closed by the rod 13 sliding down and the contacts 15 and 1G engaging. The circuit for the relay 18 until it is energized sut licientlv to attract its armatures is open and all indications vare for danger As stated before, when no current is presont in the ramp falanger signals are had immediately and brake action is had soon after the shoe 14 slides up on the ramp and breaks the circuit to the relay 1S. It' eurrent is present in the ramp, the relay 34 will closeithe circuit of wires 59. armature 33 and wires 35 and 36 between the relay 18 and the battery so that the circuit from the battery to this rel: y will be closed instantly by the engagement of the contacts 15 and 1.6 after the shoe 14' has passed over the ramp. But if there is no current in the ramp this relay 34 will remain inactive and the circuitfrom the relay 18 to the battery will remain open so that this rela)y will not' close the circuits to the armatures 2S) and 3). lf, therefore, the train is moving faster than thespeed permitted for dangei" the circuit tn the bar 10 will he open at the armatures 27 and 37 and after a few seconds the brakes will be applied. f 1t will be noticed that so lontr as a current of any duration is received b v the shoel 14 that the relay 34 is energized and attracts the armature 52 to close the circuit to the stick relay 54. This will hold allelenients stationary until the shoe passes the ranip aiid is permitted to fall to close the circuit to the relay 18 which at once attracts its armatures. Therefore, if the ramp is suhstantiallly covered with sleet and ice and only a small 'portion is exposed, or if the shoe can break off a portion of this covering on the approach side, this speed cont-rol dcviee will still operate.

It will-be understood that the relays 20 and 3 4 may be combined in the usual inanner, and that the necessary details will be suggested by eleetricalengineers.

claim:- A i 1. yInja speed controlling system for rail- I adaptedto receive-currents oditlerent characteristics from ramps besideithe rails and 'tov be `moved up by said ramps to open a normally closed circuit, a. normally closed air valve on the-vehicle, a current source and normally Vclosed circuits to said air valve, a

speed governor embodying three stationary .contacts of diiferent lengths, and a movable 'contact adapted to slide on the others according to the speed of the vehicle, said'movable contact member being in the circuit when energized to hold open the circuit to the short contact member of said speed governor, said circuit being broken when the shoe is lifted by a ram 2. In a speed controlling system for railway vehicles, the combination of a .shoe mounted on a vehicle and adapted to Yslide up upon a ramp beside the track and receive currents. therefrom, a magnetically closed air valve on the vehicleand a current source and circuits to normally hold the valve closed, a, speed governor embodying three stationary bars of unequal length and a movable contact adapted to 'slide thereon according to the speed of the vehicle, said movable contact member. being in circuit with the valve, a polarized .relay in circuit with said shoe and adapted to close the circuit to one or the other of the longer bars of said speed governor according to the current received from 4said shoe, a' normally open Icircuit from the current source to the short bar of the speed controller, .and means connected to said shoe to cause the closing of said last named circuit each time the shoe slides up upon a ramp. i

3'. 4In a speed control system for railway vehicles, a speed `governor on the vehicle embodying contacts which disengage as the vehicle exceedsthes eeds redetermmed for danger, caution and speed conditions I' respectively, a-polarized relay and a current source and circuits controlled by the polarized [relay between the current source and the contacts ofsaid speedgovernor pertaining to caution and clear conditions, ka ramp along the track and a shoe on the vehicle adapted to slide up thereon, circuits between stid shoe and the polarized relay and between the relay and the ground, a normally energized holding relay, and a circuit between the current source and the contactof said speed governor ertaining to danger conditions which circuit becomes closedwhen the holding relay becomes deenergized, the circuit to the holding relay being opened when said shoe is lifted 'by a ramp.

. 4. In a speed control system for railway vehicles, a speed governor on the vehicle embodying contacts which disengage as the vehicle exceeds the -speeds predetermined for danger, caution and speed conditions respectively, a polarized relay and a current 'source-and circuits controlled by the polarized relay between the current source and the contacts of said speed governor pertaining to caution and clear` conditions,

a ramp along the track and 'a shoe on the vehicle adapted to slide up thereon, circuits between said shoe and the'polarized relay and' between the relay and the ground, a nor lmally energized holding relay, and a circuit between the current source and the contact 'of said speed governor pertaining to danger conditions which circuit becomes closed when the ,holding relay becomes deenergized, the circuit to the holding relay being opened when said shoe is lifted by a ramp, signal lights for danger, caution7 and clear conditions, and circuits to the lcaution and clear lights controlled by' said .polarized relay and a normally open circuitto the danger light which is closed when the holding relayv becomes denergized.

MARSENA R.' JULIAN. 

